


luminescence

by twistedsky



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-24 20:32:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2595503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedsky/pseuds/twistedsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira/Allison college roommates AU. Supernatural creatures still exist, Allison's still a hunter, Kira's still a kitsune, but Kira never came to Beacon Hills, They gradually fall in like, and then love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	luminescence

**Author's Note:**

> For Alice(morganswans on tumblr).
> 
> Warnings: Slight violence, death, and underage drinking. 
> 
> I'm not entirely sure about all the kitsune rules, so I made them up as I went along. Also, this fic is heavily influenced by my own personal college experience.

Kira Yukimura gets to her shared dorm room first, which means she stands in the doorway with her parents lugging her stuff behind her, and she can’t quite make up her mind.

“Right or left,” her dad says. “Right or left?” Her things are heavy, and so his simple question is more of a  _choose now please._

“They look the same,” Kira points out. “Which means that there’s nothing seemingly significant about choosing one side or the other." 

Her mother taps her shoulder, and Kira moves out of the way for her mother to walk up to the windows and test them out. “The windows are different,” she points out, and Kira shrugs, because there’s nothing important about that.

Or, well, maybe there is. “This one doesn’t open,” her mother points out. “But that one does.”

“I’m assuming I want the one that opens then?” Kira replies, heading toward the right side of the room. They’re only on the second floor, and there’s an awning right outside of it, and so—“In case I need a quick getaway.”

“You’re a kitsune,” her mother says, “And you’re my daughter. You need to stay safe.”

“Mom—“ Kira starts to gear up for an argument, so she turns to look at her dad, who just smiles and shrugs, thereby agreeing with her mother.

“Fine,” she says, flopping down on her new bed.

She’s raised her bed, her parents have left after stuffing her full of food and good advice, she’s put away most of her things in the closet, and she’s just started decorating her desk when she hears her roommate opening their door.

She spins around and smiles brightly, “Hi, I’m Kira.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Kira. This is Allison,” the girl’s mother says, patting her daughter's shoulder. Kira looks at them and they look . . . intense. She looks back to Allison, who is very . . . pretty. Prettier than her facebook photos, that much is sure. She remembers clicking through the photos and seeing a cute guy, a redheaded girl who seems to be her best friend, and some others who appeared less prominently.

But that, she thinks, is a stalkery train of thought, and she should probably—do something, she thinks. Something.

Kira wants to say more, but she’s pretty sure Allison needs time to say goodbye to her parents, so she just finishes up her desk for the moment by straightening up a book and placing her composition books neatly on the desk. “I’ll—see you later,” she says, waving at Allison, who smiles back and waves.

Well, she thinks, that went well.

~~

When Kira gets back from wandering around her building, which is actually pretty nice, Allison is sitting alone on top of her bed.

“Hi,” Kira says, waving hello.

“Hey,” Allison says with a wave back.

It’s awkward, but Kira has that problem sometimes.

They’ve exchanged basic information with each other over facebook during the summer after they were assigned to each other, so it’s not like she can fill this awkward silence with questions she already knows the answers to.

“So,” Kira says, “Are your parents coming back, or have they gone back home?”

“They’re gone,” Allison tells her. “Finally. I love them, but I really just want time to get situated here, you know? Start the next chapter of my life.”

“I get that,” Kira replies with a nod, and she does. She knows how weighty parental expectations can be.

“Have you eaten yet?” Allison asks suddenly.

She has, but—“Do you want to check out the cafeteria?”

“Absolutely,” Allison says with a smile, and Kira feels the ball of nerves in her stomach relax. 

~~

“Your family seemed sort of intense,” Kira says, knowing full well that the said could be said about hers. Her mother, at least.

“We’ve got this whole ‘family, duty, honor’ thing going on,” Allison admits. “It’s very Game of Thrones.”

“I’ve never actually seen that show,” Kira admits with a shrug.

“I’ll show it to you,” Allison says with a smile, and Kira feels a rush of thankfulness. They’re going to get along, and maybe even be friends.

Kira has had friends in the past, but being a kitsune has led to some awkward little occurrences that tend to freak people out and—yes, she thinks, she needs to avoid those.

“I’d love that,” she says instead, hoping that her little mental word vomit isn’t written all over her face.

“We might actually be better off not bothering though,” Allison says, looking down at her food and frowning. “It is a little gross. And I don’t mean bloody and gore-filled, because that doesn’t really bother me—“ Allison looks up sharply. “Of course it bothers me, I mean, who wouldn’t that bother? I just mean it’s not gross in that way, but---“

“I get it,” Kira replies with a friendly smile. She’s not the only one with a word vomit problem, and their friendship is off to a solid start.

“I’ll do a good thing,” Allison says, “And make sure you never see it.”

Kira laughs, “Thank you, I'm sure I'll appreciate that someday."

~~

There’s an ice cream machine in the cafeteria, which is hereby Kira’s favorite part about college.

“I’m sure you’ll feel differently once classes start,” Allison says.

“I don’t think so. I think once classes start I’ll probably love the ice cream machine even more than I already do.”

Allison scrunches up her nose, and then nods her head. “I think you’re probably right.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Kira says, reaching for sprinkles and dabbling them over her ice cream. “I’m excited about _college_. I’m excited about learning, and finally becoming a full-fledged member of society, but there’s still a part of me . . . “ Kira winces, and trails off.

“There’s a part of you that’s most excited about potentially having ice cream with every meal,” Allison finishes, and Kira nods, because that is exactly it. 

Kira grabs a banana and starts to break it into little pieces and squish it into her ice cream, “And now it’s almost healthy,” Kira says triumphantly.

Allison smiles at her. “You remind me of a friend of mine,” she says, and it feels almost heavy, as if she’s sad about the person she’s talking about.

“Really? Who?” Kira bites into her ice cream, and it’s not especially fantastic ice cream, but it’s not bad either.

“My ex-boyfriend, actually. He’s just really . .. happy about things. Almost bubbly, but not quite.”

Kira frowns. “Am I bubbly?”

Allison makes a weird face. “I didn’t mean it like that. We don’t really know each other all that well, but you just remind me of Scott.”

“Is that a good thing?” Kira asks, and she wonders if this means that she’s Allison’s type, which is a silly thing to think, because she’s never—okay, she’s had a few crushes on girls, maybe as many as on boys, but she’s also never been in an actual relationship before, so it’s a silly train of thought, okay?

“I think so,” Allison decides, saying it like she really believes it, and that’s good enough for Kira.

They wander back to their dorm room, which is on the lonely part of campus where there’s only one other dorm building to keep it company(the place, they’ve been told, where parties definitely _don’t_ take place).

“Do you want to go to the welcome back acapella concert?” Allison asks suddenly.

“Oh, do you sing?”

Allison snorts. “Not well. I’ve never heard acapella in person though, and I just thought it might be fun.”

Kira considers it. “That sounds fun, yeah."

~~

That night when they’re ready for bed, and staring at the ceiling in silence, Kira muses aloud. “We should put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.”

“That would be really nice,” Allison agrees, and it breaks the awkward staring-at-the-ceiling silence, and they laugh and talk until they drift off to sleep.

~~

The next day is a Saturday, the day of the concert.

They wander across campus looking for the auditorium it’s supposed to be held in, and they get a bit lost. This leads to them stopping for directions at a food place, which in turn leads to them spending the rest of the day eating and wandering around campus.

It’s peaceful here, Kira thinks. Free of nogitsune and other kinds of supernatural creatures.

It’s nice to just wander around without purpose. It’s also nice to have a friend to do that with, she thinks, turning to look at Allison, who is taking selfies with campus statues.

Allison sees her looking, and Kira fights a blush, but Allison just waves her toward where she is, and they take pictures together.

Kira is sure things will be different once classes start, but for today things are _good_.

It should be noted that they don’t make it to the acapella concert, but there are worse things to miss out on, she thinks.

~~

The first day of classes is intense, though she only has three of the five—the PE class her mother requires in addition to the private instructor she has to haul herself to twice a week, her freshman writing class and an introductory anthro class that fulfills a general ed requirement.

She’s always found history and anthropology fascinating. It’s hard not to with her parents being the way that they are. Her mother has lived over 900 years, and her father is a _history_ teacher.

To not appreciate the past, to not understand what it means to the future—well, it’s basically impossible.

She doesn’t like to talk about it much, but her favorite stories are the true ones, the ones about the way the world really is, the ones about how the world came to be. Anthropology takes that a step further, and lets her get into the nitty gritty of world cultures.

Hopefully, this is it. Hopefully, this is the right field of study for her—the first of her many destinies, as her parents say.

From the level of excitement she feels after her first class session(her last course of the day), she’s pretty sure it’ll go well.

She practically bounces home, skipping in excitement. It’s hard to contain, and she’s actually looking forward to reading this week’s articles before her next class session on Wednesday.

There’s something beautiful about this, Kira decides. There’s a sense of intellectual and spiritual freedom that comes from college life. She knows she’s romanticizing it quite a bit, because it’s just the first day, and there’s so much more to come—long, stressful nights full of coffee and studying, and days at a time where she probably won’t leave the libraries.

Somehow, though, she’s not worried about that. She’s ready.

She finally gets back to her dorm room and Allison’s not there, so she gets out her earphones and her excitement must be catching, because she’s sparking around her fingers a bit when she goes to take her notebook out so that she can take notes.

She smiles slightly, and looks to make sure the blinds in the room are closed, and she lets the sparks dance around her fingers. It’s a nice feeling, she thinks.

~~

Allison comes back from _her_ first day, and while she’s not exactly bursting with excitement, she’s in a pretty good mood.

Kira has already finished with most of her reading, because she’d finished her classes relatively early that day(an early start means an early finish, for which she’s grateful, though waking up for class at eight is substantially harder in college than it was in high school, for some reason).

Allison, however, has a slightly later start, and a much later ending. It’s almost six now, which means—“Dinner?” Allison asks with a smile.

“Yes, please,” Kira says gratefully, “I needed a break.”

“Me too. I felt like today would never end,” Allison says conversationally, and from there they discuss their days.

College feels  _right_ so far, and Kira is immensely grateful for that.

~~

Weeks later, everything is going quite swimmingly—minus midterms, which definitely don’t happen in the _middle_ of the term, since they happen five and ten weeks in. But that’s a moot point, she thinks. Papers, papers, papers. Now that’s a much more meaningful thing to worry about.

Anyway, everything is going really well until she’s leaning back in her desk chair a lot further than she should be, and she nearly topples over when Allison comes in from her shower in a towel.

Allison's teeth are chattering though, and she looks absolutely cold and miserable.

“Are you okay?” Kira asks, concerned.

“Hot water’s out,” Allison says with a grimace. “I don’t mind a cold shower, but not at night when I’m expecting a warm one.”

“Sorry,” Kira winces. “That’s awful.” Kira carefully averts her eyes away from Allison while she gets dressed, as she always does, because that’s the polite thing to do, girl or not.

Especially if you think your roommate is ridiculously pretty and attractive, which Kira does(not, she would say, unless you managed to get the truth out of her somehow).

“Anyway,” Allison says, “I have some friends coming down for Thanksgiving.”

“That’s a while from now,” Kira points out with a shrug. It’s only mid-September, after all.

“Time flies by fast,” Allison points out. “I thought you'd appreciate the advance notice.”

“I do, thank you,” Kira nods. ”So, you have friends coming by?”

“It’s not like they’ll stay or anything. There’s some party that Wednesday that they want to go to—“ Kira still hasn’t been to a party, and she has no shame about this. She's making friends, of course. There’s Layla, from her awful chemistry class(general ed classes, she’s decided, were designed by the nogitsune), Emma the RA on their part of the floor, Katie from a few doors down, and Allison—and a few other friendly faces. 

“That sounds fun,” Kira replies anyway, even though the idea of going to a frat party sounds awful. A regular party isn’t so bad. She likes parties. The first week of classes there was a glow in the dark painting party thing, and _that_ was fun. She just prefers contained fun, especially since she’s been known to be deathly shy, and she’s so protective of her kitsune gifts.

“It does. You should come,” Allison offers, and Kira’s pretty sure she’s just  asking to be nice, so she shrugs and answers noncommittally.

Allison will have probably forgotten she ever asked her by the time that Thanksgiving rolls around anyway.

"We should go to a practice party," Allison says. "We haven't gone to one yet," she points out. 

"I don't know," Kira says. "I'm not really--"

"Please," Allison says, making eye contact and smiling sweetly, and somehow Kira finds herself saying yes. 

~~

Allison and Kira go to their first party, and it’s actually . . . fun.

Kira isn’t very good at it, but she does enjoy dancing. There’s something enjoyable about losing yourself in movement. At least, there would be if she could manage it.

Allison grabs her hand as she’s awkwardly standing to the side kind of shaking back and forth, and suddenly she thinks she might _actually_ be dancing.

It’s a loud setting, and Kira closes her eyes for a moment, and she can hear heartbeats and laughter, and disappointingly unmemorable pop music(it's disappointing because Kira  _loves_ pop music).

Her eyes flicker back open when Allison calls her name, and then there’s a little too much alcohol, and everything gets a little chaotic.

She’s not sure which of them is more drunk, but she can _choose_ to be more sober if she wants, that’s how her healing gift works(at least she thinks so, because she's never actually tried it in this kind of situation before), which is probably preferable to other sorts of healing, she thinks drunkenly. Imagine if she did it automatically, like some supernatural creatures.

She snorts in laughter, but then Allison gives her a strange look, which means she’s probably not that drunk—though from the way she grabs shots from the alcohol guy(this is what Kira chooses to think of him as, because his entire purpose in life seems to be to provide them with alcohol) and downs them, handing others to her, she’s pretty sure that’s going to change.

They giggle their way back to the dorms, and she should probably try to instigate her healing abilities, but she’s having so much fun, and it just seems _frivolous._

Maybe tomorrow, she thinks, if she has a hangover. Well, definitely then.

She, Allison and Katie from three doors down are singing and skipping their way back to their building. She's having fun, and it feels really, really good.

Katie takes her leave of them, and they keep making their way to their door, stumbling along.

Kira painstakingly opens the door with her key card, but let it be known that it was only with _much_ struggle.

Actually, she thinks, that shouldn’t be known. Nobody needs to know that.

Kira gets the door open, and she leans on it a little too hard and it falls open, and she tumbles to the ground.

Allison pulls her up off the ground, and she’s practically standing again—yay her! But then Allison doesn’t let go, and they’re kissing, and _wow_ , just _wow_ okay?

Kira doesn't exactly know how this happens, but one second she's staring at Allison, and Allison's staring back at her, and then their lips are pressed together. 

Again,  _wow._

Allison pulls away first, and Kira just stares at her blankly for a moment, because her brain is still a little fried from sloppy, drunken kisses, and Allison is a little wobbly.

It’s time to sober up, she thinks, but then Allison kisses her again, and she tentatively kisses back, and it’s electric(and oh yeah, that’s definitely _her_ ), and she doesn’t want to have to deal with sober!Kira.

Sober!Kira doesn’t enjoy the moment, or the soft lips pressed against her own, or the hands now cupping her face.

Allison pulls away again then, and Kira isn’t sure if it’s over, or if there’s more, or—“Goodnight,” Allison says, and Kira supposes that’s that.

Allison carefully climbs up onto her bed—with much effort, might Kira add, without changing her clothes or even taking off her makeup.

Kira just raises her fingers to her lips, and she isn’t sure if the tingly feeling is more powerful than the numb feeling she’s beginning to feel.

 _Wow_ , she thinks. Wow.

Kira carefully extricates herself from her clothes, pulling a giant, comfy t-shirt over her head, and cleans off her face with a baby wipe—useful for so many things, she thinks, and then climbs up and plops down on her own bed.

She stares up at the ceiling, still without glow in the dark stars, sadly, and smiles to herself.

~~

The next morning, Kira has a hangover, and it occurs to her, while trying to stimulate her healing process, that you probably can’t heal being drunk, because you’re not necessarily _injured_. She’s not drunk anymore, but she’s hungover, and she’s trying to manage it but—nope, she’s not managing it.

“I’m not doing that again,” Allison groans from the other side of the room, and Kira would agree, but talking seems like too much, so she grunts.

“You feel as awful as I do, don’t you?” Allison asks, and Kira grunts again. Allison laughs, but then Kira sees her practically fall off her bed heading, she assumes, to a bathroom.

Kira stays where she is, and turns to her desk, which is right near her head. She has a half-drunk Gatorade just sitting there, and maybe she could just—nope, she thinks, as she falls off her bed and lands on the floor, maybe not.

She opens her eyes and realizes she seems to have swiped her Gatorade off the desk with her hand while she was falling, so maybe yes.

She decides to just lie there, and try to drink her Gatorade. Next time, she thinks, don’t drink so much, Kira.

What feels like hours later, Allison finally wanders back looking the worst that Kira’s ever seen her, but Kira's nausea is beginning to fade, so she has time to think about the fact that they  _kissed_.

Allison is staring down at her, clearly a little befuddled. Her hair is wet, which has Kira guessing she just shoved her head into the shower under the water, and Kira thinks that sounds lovely.

She’d definitely like to do that if she could remember how to move.

“You look how I feel,” Allison groans out, shutting the door behind herself, and pressing her back against it as she slowly slides to the ground. “That’s so much better. Let’s not every repeat last night again.”

Kira pulls herself up and leans against her dresser, which is right underneath her lifted bed, and very pointedly doesn’t look at Allison. “All of it?” Kira asks as nonchalantly as she can, which it seems is _not_ very nonchalant at all.

Allison is quiet, and Kira sneaks a look at her, then looks away quickly.

“Did we—“ Allison starts to ask, then hesitates.

“Kiss?” Kira supplies, blushing a very intense red, she’s guessing from how hot her cheeks feel.  “Yeah,” she says.

“Huh,” Allison says. “I’ve only ever kissed one other girl before,” Allison admits. “My best friend Lydia, and we were both in love with other people.”

“I see,” Kira says, “I don’t really kiss people in general. There was a boy in the fifth grade, but I don’t think either of us enjoyed that,” she smiles, trying to make light of the situation.

“Scott and I—my ex-boyfriend and I broke up after graduation, because we knew we weren’t going to the same school, and long distance just seemed like a bad idea, and so I spent the summer trying to get over him, and kissing other people, and I think it kind of worked, and then college started, and now I’m here,” Allison says with a frown.

“I see,” Kira says again, and she guesses she does. “So are you still in love with—um, Scott?”

“I’ll always love Scott,” Allison says without hesitation. “But am I in love with him? I  don’t know. I hope not. I don’t want to spend the next four years in love with my high school boyfriend. I want to live my life.”

“Then live,” Kira says, “Just because you aren’t sure, that doesn’t mean you can’t try. Not that you have to try with me, of course, I wouldn’t even know how to try.”

There's a moment of silence, and Kira mentally berates herself until Allison speaks. “We could . . . try,” Allison suggests. “Kind of. Slowly, maybe? Do whatever feels natural?”

“I would like that,” Kira says as calmly as possible, because inwardly she's jumping for the moon.

“Good,” Allison says, and they’re sitting there, smiling at each other, and it’s a nice moment and then—someone knocks on their door, and it’s Katie from down the hall with a somber look on her face.

And then, everything changes.

Kira gets up, and Allison stands there, “What’s wrong?” Allison inquires. 

“Shelly—my roommate, she’s dead.” Katie looks like she's about to fall apart, and Kira kind of knows the feeling. 

“What?” Kira flinches from the shock of it. “Are you serious?”

Allison seems to stand a little straighter. She shuffles Katie into the room and gets her to sit down, and tries to comfort her when she starts crying. “What happened?” Allison asks firmly, but kindly.

“They found her in the middle of one of the school fountains, bleeding out. She—“ Katie accepts the tissue that Kira hands her and rubs at her already red eyes. “She had all these bite marks, like she’d been attacked by a wild animal.”

“A wild animal?” Allison presses. “What kind of marks?”

Kira has an urge to reach her katana, which is lying comfortably under her mattress, but she suppresses it. She’s only ever handled homicidal supernatural creatures with the help of her mother before, and she hasn’t even been doing it very long at that.

“I don’t know,” Katie admits. “They didn’t say.”

A wild animal in the middle of a college campus in Downtown Los Angeles? No, definitely not, Kira thinks.

She wonders if it’s a coyote, or a werewolf. She’s always wanted to meet a werewolf.

This, however, is not how she wanted to do it. She pats Katie’s shoulder, mumbling comforting, but meaningless words, and Allison stands there like some sort of warrior princess ready for battle, and it’s kind of strange, but everyone handles death in their own way, Kira knows.

~~

She comes home the next day and sees Allison holding a bow and arrow.

“Well, that’s definitely not dorm-approved,” she comments as Allison stands there with a chagrined look on her face.

“I can explain—“ Allison says, but then she pauses, and tries to figure out a way _to_ explain it.

Apparently she doesn’t quite manage it.

“You said you were into physical stuff, but I didn’t realize you had such a high class bow and arrow.” Kira can tell that even from where she's standing. Her mother lessons were good for a multitude of reasons, apparently including this one.

“My dad is a dealer,” Allison reminds her, and Kira nods her head.

“Of course.” Kira bites her lip a little nervously, and locks the door behind her just to be safe. “So why did you take it out?”

“Practice,” Allison replies immediately, and Kira doesn’t quite believe that.

“Of course,” Kira says. “For what?”

Allison falters. “Uhhhh—“

Kira makes the split second decision to head toward her bed and pull her katana out from under her mattress.

“Wow. That’s—“

“It’s my sword,” Kira says casually, as if it’s not weird.

“It’s really nice,” Allison says, squinting at it. “It looks really old.”

“It’s been in the family for a long time,” Kira says evasively. “Anyway, so what’s with the bow and arrow?”

“Nothing,” Allison says immediately, and Kira gives her a look—the kind of look that says no, I don’t believe you, _no one would believe you_. “I like to be safe, and the campus isn’t really safe anymore.”

“Shelly,” Kira says, and Allison nods. “Oh, I’m sorry." Kira sighs, then shakes her head. “I won’t say anything about the unauthorized weapons if you don’t say anything about mine.”

“Of course not,” Allison assures her with a tentative smile, and Kira feels like she’s hiding a lot right now. She saw the pictures the students who got to—to Shelly, Kira thinks—took, and that was not human or animal, it was definitely supernatural.

She stares awkwardly at Allison, and she honestly feels like the night of the party never happened, and all she's left with is Katie coming to tell them about her roommate, and everything else that's happened since.

It's sad, Kira thinks, in more ways than one.

~~

She’s listening carefully, and trying to tap into every kitsune sense she knows she has.

She should call her parents, or tell her supernatural tutor, or do _anything_ but this.

But she doesn’t—she searches around, and finds blood—definitely not human, she notes. 

She’s combing the little on-campus park near where it happened, looking for anything useful.

It’s a dangerous campus in a dangerous neighborhood, and even though it was an animal attack(as far as the few students who actually know much of anything know), the official school email said nothing of the sort.

It’s hard to figure out if it’s happened before when everything is shrouded in lies and mystery.

The attacker wouldn’t be foolish enough to come back to the scene of the crime, but many supernatural creatures get attached to certain stalking grounds. So maybe it’ll be nearby, she thinks, wandering around, and finding nothing except useless security, a few overly productive students heading home, and—that’s not right, she thinks.

Up ahead in the dark, obscured by the trees and the building to the side of it, is something that is definitely not human. She looks around, then starts walking as quickly, and as quietly as possible.

It’s a monster, she thinks when she sees it up close.

It’s not a werewolf, it’s not another kitsune, it’s—she doesn’t know what it is, but it’s killing another student, and so she pulls out her katana. “Hey!” she yells.

It looks to her, and it looks slightly human, but only barely. It’s almost completely unrecognizable. It’s—it’s _blue_.

She’s never seen anything like it.

The creature moves toward her, and she lifts her sword. She’s ready to fight. Her eyes glow, and she _has_ this.

Inconveniently, this is the moment it gets hit—by an _arrow_ , she realizes, and she turns to see Allison, giving it time to slip off while she takes another shot, this time missing.

“Allison?”

Allison looks stunned, and Kira remembers her eyes, and her—damn it, no, no no, this is bad, but the thing is getting away, and—Allison runs after it, and Kira follows, and they both round the corner it turned, and it’s gone.

She closes her eyes and breathes. She can smell it everywhere, she can do this, she can—“What are you?” Allison asks curiously.

“What am I? What are _you?”_ She looks human, as far as Kira can tell, but who knows anymore? She doesn’t know _anything_.

Allison winces and then sighs, rubbing at her head. “I’m not anything, Kira. I’m—“

“What?” Kira looks from side to side,  sheathing her sword and trying not to get frustrated. Of course the cute girl she likes is something _else_.

“I’m a hunter,” Allison admits finally. “My family's made up of them anyway, and I’m probably going into the family business, we—“

“A hunter,” Kira says faintly. She feels a pinprick of fear, because she’s been _warned_. Hunters are dangerous. Many of them think that simply existing as a supernatural entity is some slight against the world, and therefore they must be obliterated.

“We only hunt those who hurt others, we—my family is special,” Allison says, and Kira doesn’t know what that’s supposed to mean. “We protect those who cannot protect themselves,” Allison says, and Kira desperately wants to believe that.

“Oh,” Kira says, feeling incredibly small.

“I saw your eyes glow,” Allison says softly, reaching out a hand, but Kira sways away, shaking her head. “And I didn’t recognize the color. I’ve met werewolves. A lot of them, actually, and none of them looked like you.”

“I’m a kitsune,” Kira says, laughing slightly.

“A kitsune?”

“A fox,” Kira explains. “Specifically, a thunder kitsune. They say we’re very tricky, you know. Can’t be trusted,” she’s started to sound bitter, and she hates that, but, “I can't believe you're a hunter.”

“I’m not going to hunt _you_ , if that’s what you think,” Allison says sharply.

“I didn’t say you were,” Kira points out. “Your mind went there first.”

“I don’t believe that. I think you’re freaking out, because you think that I had some sort of plan, or that I knew about you, but I swear I didn’t, and I would never hurt you.”

Kira just looks at her, feeling her heart tight in her chest and—“I believe you,” she says. Or, at least, she wants to.

They stand there, and it feels like they’re facing off, but Kira doesn’t want to be at war with Allison, she doesn’t want to be at war with _anyone_ (especially Allison, to be fair).

“I want to find out what happened to Shelly, and that _person_ back there, who I—“ Kira’s breath catches, and Allison nods.

“So do I." Allison looks around, and then she meets Kira's eyes. "We could probably get more done if we worked together," she tentatively suggests.

“Okay,” Kira agrees.

She's right, after all.

And a huge part of her desperately wants to trust Allison, and so she'll try.

~~

After they talk to the campus security, and then the police, and then the campus security again, they circle back to grab their weapons from the little place they’d stashed them. Then they head back to their dorms silently. They don’t say a word to each other until Allison closes the door behind them.

“We can’t do this,” Allison delcares.

“We can’t do what?” Kira  asks, searching for her pajamas, which she knows are here, they have to be, and they’re definitely clean, and—she’s stressing out, she thinks, she needs to _breathe._

“We can't work together if we won’t talk,” Allison says, and she’s probably right.

“We’ll talk,” Kira says. She doesn’t feel like talking much now though. She has nothing left to say. “We will. I think—“ her voice is shaky, and it makes her nerves even worse. “We can talk tomorrow,” she promises softly, turning to meet Allison’s eyes.

Allison looks like she wants to argue, but it’s not like they can do much _now_.

“Okay,” Allison agrees, and they go about their routines.

Kira finishes first, curling up under her blankets and staring up at the ceiling.

Allison climbs into hers, and Kira is unnerved by the silence. 

“I’m scared,” Kira admits suddenly, almost despite herself, like she couldn’t control the flow of words out of her mouth. Which, to be fair, she couldn't.

Allison turns toward her, and Kira turns her head to meet her gaze in the darkness. “Of me?” Allison asks softly, non-judgmentally. Or, as much so as anyone can manage under those circumstances, and Kira appreciates the effort.

Kira considers it. She's been thinking about it a lot, and she's finally come to one simple conclusion. “No,” she says, and she should be. There’s a part of her that’s worried, a part of her that’s _terrified_ of the entire situation. But of Allison? She looks at her now, and all she sees is the cute girl who doesn’t mock her for getting excited about mediocre ice cream. The cute girl who kissed her like she meant something, and who cared enough about someone _dying_ to actually make things right herself.

That means something.

“Really?” There’s something about the way that Allison says it that’s uneven, like she doesn’t quite believe it.

“Yes,” Kira says firmly. “Are you afraid of me?” It’s a reasonable question.

“No,” Allison says without hesitation.

Kira smiles slightly. “Then I think we’ll be okay.”

~~

Allison tells her about Beacon Hills, which sounds like a very strange place indeed.

Part of her wants to visit, and part of her wants to stay very far away from it.

They discuss a course of action too, and decide on nightly patrols of the campus, just to be safe.

“It’s very Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Kira says, and Allison laughs.

“It is,” Allison agrees.

The campus is quiet.

They stay together, because two are better than one, even though they could cover more ground more quickly if they separated. But that’s not the point, Kira thinks. The point is to capture the beast—the werejaguar, Allison says, saying she’s met one before.

Again, Kira thinks, Beacon Hills sounds  _amazing_.

After, before they go back to their dorm to study for the second set of midterms—Thanksgiving is coming up, of course—they stop by the only open thing on campus and grab some coffee.

It’s not a coffee _date_ per say, but it’s close enough for Kira’s needs.

There’s mildly cute flirting while they’re in line, which is somehow comforting. But then Allison reaches forward to fix Kira’s beanie, and for a second Kira forgets about everything except the desire to kiss her again.

“It’s your turn,” the guy behind them says, and he’s definitely mad about the fact that they’re dawdling, so they hurry up to the counter and order. The guy looks like he hasn’t slept in _weeks_ , and there’s no need to disturb his inner beast. He's in Kira's chem class(they've even had a few conversations) but he doesn't seem to recognize her at all because he's so far gone.

Allison and Kira walk back to their dorm, coffee in hand. Their dorm is annoyingly as far as you can get from the coffee shop without dropping off the face of the school map. Or, at least, it would be annoying if Allison weren’t walking right beside her, smiling at her, making small talk, and pretending that everything in their lives isn’t completely ridiculous.

That part doesn't feel too awful, actually.

Kira accidentally grabs Allison’s hand when she’s reaching for Allison's empty coffee cup, and suddenly she’s kissing Allison again, even though she’s supposed to be writing a paper for her anthro class, and it’s not even remotely done, and she has a massive exam in two days and—no, she thinks, this is what’s important.

~~

“Finally,” Kira says, plopping onto her bed. Her flight isn’t until Wednesday night, so since her Wednesday classes have all been canceled, she's free. For a few days, anyway.

“I still have a discussion section tomorrow,” Allison says with a sigh. “It’s despicable. “

“I thought your friends were getting in today,” Kira frowns, and she _may_ have an ulterior motive here. She’s not exactly Allison’s girlfriend or anything, and apparently half of Allison's friends are supernatural, and it’s just all a bit intimidating. Werewolves and banshees, oh my. There’s been no real discussion of Kira meeting them, but of course she’ll be here, so she definitely _will_ , so—and she’s trailing off again, she thinks, on a worry spiral.

Stop it.

“Only a few of them are coming,” Allison tells her. “Lydia flew back to Beacon Hills last night, and then they’re taking a little roadtrip down here to come take me back up there, which is really unnecessary, but—“ Allison shrugs, and then smiles. “I love them. Anyway, they’ll be here sometime after 5, but knowing them . . . I have no idea.”

This is another thing—Kira has friends, but not friends like that. Not weird supernatural pack family friends, definitely no.

And she doesn’t have a Scott, which Allison definitely has.

Kira wouldn’t say she’s jealous—a few make out sessions and a little hand-holding don't technically mean anything(okay, she’ll admit, they mean something to _her_ )—but maybe she’s a little jealous.

Jealousy is not a good color on her, or maybe that’s envy, which she’s definitely not green with. She’s actually very cute today, if she does say so herself.

Maybe she _does_ want to impress them.

~~

Allison is showering, because it’s only 4 PM, but still there’s a knock at the door, and Kira immediately knows it’s Allison’s friends.

She can hear them chattering, and two of them are even discussing what _she_ smells like, because she definitely doesn’t smell like Allison, and she doesn’t smell human and—oh, she realizes, Allison hasn’t mentioned her.

She opens the door suddenly, and the weird one jumps.

The redhead rolls her eyes, and the cute one—the one that Kira knows is Scott from the photos—smiles at her and extends his hand.

“I’m Scott. That’s Lydia, and that’s Stiles. We’re looking for Allison.”

“Kira,” she says, fighting a blush. His smile is bright and friendly, and so _sweet_. How do you break up with a guy like this, she thinks? “Allison’s still in the shower.”

“Oh,” Scott says, and Lydia frowns, and Stiles—Stiles is . . . weird, she decides. “Do you mind if we wait for her out here?”

“You can wait inside, thought I can’t promise it’ll be especially comfortable. Not that I’ll try to make you uncomfortable, of course—“

“We get it,” Lydia says, cutting her off surprisingly nicely. She's giving Kira a thorough look, as if trying to figure her out. _  
_

They walk in, and Kira stands awkwardly. “Do you guys want anything?”

Lydia smiles, and walks forward. “Tell us about yourself.”

“Oh, I’m just Kira.”

“Of course you aren’t,” Lydia says with a shake of her head. “You aren’t just anything. Allison talks a lot about you.”

“She does?” she asks at the same time as the boys, and she’s not sure who is surprised more.

“Yes, she does,” Lydia says firmly, as if it’s some sort of truth that she doesn’t have the time or energy to argue the legitimacy of.

“Oh,” Kira says, and Lydia pounces.

Fifteen minutes later, Kira is pretty sure Lydia knows more about her than she knows about herself, and then Allison comes back, and everything’s just a bit hazy.

She sees the look that Allison and Scott exchange when they see each other, and she averts her eyes.

~~

They talk about the murders, which is a very strange experience for Kira, who doesn’t feel like she quite fits in with this little group, even though some of them actually seem to try to make her feel like she does.

She appreciates it, she does, but they’re _good_ at this, and she’s not sure she even wants to truly be good at something like this, because it seems isolating, and horrifying, and just . . . sad. She knows she has to be prepared for it though, because her mother has drilled it into her head.

Later, when they’re all done eating and talking about gruesome things, she sees them make up beds in the room.

It’s weird, but if Allison trusts them, she thinks she might too. Scott seems like a good alpha, at least. She’s never met one before, but he seems . . . good.

They all seem to speak in code, which is a bit disconcerting, but they’re _kind_ , and she appreciates that.

But long after they all fall asleep, she can’t, so she pulls on some socks and grabs her keycard and wanders quietly out of the door.

She heads toward the elevators, and sits on the comfy couches in the open little area, looking out of the window.

“She likes you,” she hears, and she turns her head sharply to see Scott.

“You’re quiet,” Kira says. “I’m not surprised. You’re a werewolf, after all.” Her first, which is unbelievable, really.

“Sorry,” Scott apologizes, and Kira shakes her head.

“It’s fine. I’m sorry, did I disturb you when I got up? I tried to be quiet, but—“

“I couldn’t really sleep either. Can I—“ he motions to the seats, and she nods, and he sits a few feet from her.

“Did you know that werewolves can tell when someone is lying?” Scott asks suddenly, and _okay_ , that’s weird, but she’ll play along.

“Really? That’s a cool trick.”

“It’s . . . interesting,” Scott says diplomatically. “I just thought I’d make sure you know, before you say anything you might not want to say.”

“Thank you,” Kira says, and she honestly doesn’t see how Allison and Scott won’t get back together after college and have the cutest little werewolf/hunter hybrid babies. They’d probably travel the world trying to save people.

Allison and Scott are both quiet heroic, she thinks.

“How long have you and Allison been—“ Scott trails off. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I’m just—“ Scott winces. “It’s none of my business. I could smell you on each other though.”

“That sounds . . . “ Kira makes a face.

“Yeah, it sounds a lot grosser than it actually is,” he admits, and they smile.

Scott gives her silence, and Kira decides to tell him, if only because she feels the need to talk about it. “We haven’t been—it’s only been a few weeks, and it’s not anything serious.”

“She likes you,” Scott says again.

“Does she really?” Kira asks, turning to him. “No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. Or, well,  I want her to tell me herself, anyway.”

“That’s definitely a good way to do it,” he says, and he seems to mean it. 

“You seem very comfortable with this, considering that you guys had that whole epic high school love story.” Kira respects that. They have history, and it's clear that they're still incredibly important to each other. 

“High school’s over,” Scott says, and Kira wonders about something she saw earlier with him and Lydia, and thinks no, she has no idea what she’s even thinking about.

“I like her,” Kira admits quietly. “A lot. More than I should. It feels good to be with her. Right, you know?”

“I do,” Scott says, and Kira supposes he does.

“Have I passed the test yet?” Kira asks.

Scott laughs. “There’s no test. Allison can make her own decisions. I just can’t sleep, and I’m too curious for my own good.”

Kira smiles, and she feels—she feels like she could like him. She could like all of Allison’s friends. She's not even jealous of him, not really. At least, not because of that.

She wonders what it’s like to feel like _pack_ , something she’ll probably never understand.

 _That_ inspires a jealousy much deeper than anything else she’s ever felt. 

~~

She leaves the next day, and she tries not to think too hard about Allison, or Scott, or any of that.

She doesn’t think about Allison and the others trying to find the werejaguar. She just thinks good, positive things, and deflects when her parents ask her what’s on her mind.

 _Food_ , she says, and it’s true enough(though not entirely, of course).

~~

Apparently Allison and her friends don't make any inroads with the werejaguar thing before they head home, which means that it's back to nightly patrol duty once they're back from the long weekend.

They’ll find something, hopefully. Or maybe not, she thinks. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it has moved on, and they’re all going to be safe now. The lack of death is a _good_ thing.

“Maybe it’s time to stop,” Kira says, and Allison looks like she wants to agree, but then she hesitates.  “What’s wrong?”

“I feel safer doing this,” Allison admits, and Kira gets that.

“Then we keep doing it,” Kira says. “It gives me time to spend more time with you anyway.” It also means less time to write papers and study for finals, but it’ll all be fine.

Winter break is coming up quickly. Way too quickly.

Three weeks, she realizes.

Allison gives her a scarf, and Kira gives her a bow and arrow necklace she’d found in a cute store, and it’s all very. . . nice.

Allison kisses her, and she feels like she’s floating, and it’s lovely, really, but—“We should go on a date before winter break,” Allison says.

“I’d like that,” Kira replies, blinking furiously. “A lot.” Allison squeezes the hand she’s already holding, and it’s just such a nice feeling. For a moment she loses focus and entirely forgets what they’re talking about.

“What do you want to do?” Kira asks eventually. There are too many(and yet so few) options when you’re stuck on campus, and she’s just not sure where to even start.

“I was thinking dinner at LA Live, movie, maybe some PDA?” Allison suggests with a smile, and Kira leans over and kisses her cheek.

“I think that sounds amazing.”

~~

It rains, which is the first ominous sign of the date.

This leads into the second problem, which is that when it rains in LA everyone forgets how to drive for some reason. So even though it _barely_ rained at all, they’re late, and so they have to choose a different movie time, which turns out to be sold out, so they choose a different movie altogether.

Kira could be happier about this, but the point is to spend time with Allison, right?

They share popcorn, and sometimes hold hands, and _that_ part of the evening is perfect. It's kind of a terrible movie, but Kira barely notices.

It’s  . . . it’s a bit like being starstruck, or something. It’s like everything is bright and beautiful and _shiny_.

Dinner, afterward, is nothing special, and the tram going back to campus is stinky and uncomfortable, but it’s _perfect_ , Kira thinks.

It’s perfect.

That night, when they’re making out on Kira’s bed, Allison’s fingers wander a little, and Kira’s face turns tomato red, and she stumbles through the awkwardness of discussing sexual experience, and then she says yes, please, _keep going_ , and Kira wonders if there’s a way to be happier than this.

~~

She misses Allison during winter break. It’s an entire month without her, and it’s ridiculous.

Text messages and short phone calls are not enough, she thinks, and when her parents ask why she’s alternately moping around and glowing, she stumbles over an explanation, and she watches her mother and father’s eyes practically pop out of their heads when she tells them about the cute girl she’s dating. She carefully does not mention the fact that they’re roommates, because she’s pretty sure they wouldn’t be all that happy about that.

They are, however, reasonably happy for her. At least, they are after the protective spiels.

Kira calls Allison afterward, and tells her all about it, and even though they’re states away from each other, she feels even closer to her then.

“I can’t wait to tell _my_ parents about my girlfriend,” Allison says. “I hope they’re holding something, because then they might drop it, and if it breaks I can lord it over them for the rest of their lives.”

“Girlfriend?” Kira chokes out.

Allison hesitates, and Kira listens to the weird quiet static of the phone call. “Girlfriend,” Allison repeats. “If you want.”

“I do. Want that, I mean.”

“Good,” Allison says, and Kira can practically hear her smile. “Me too.”

~~

The first night back, Kira and Allison subvert the campus security system and end up on top of the tallest building on campus. They lie down on a small blanket they brought so that no one can see them below.

They’ve heard stories of people sneaking up there before.

Once a couple had actually been caught having sex. They’d been photographed, and the pictures had circulated all over the place.

Allison and Kira aren’t going to have sex up there, but still, there’s no reason to tempt fate.

They stare up at the sky and curl up with each other.

Here is a slight problem.

Allison kisses the side of Kira’s neck, and Kira thinks, _wow, I love you_.

The words almost tumble right out of her mouth, but she just barely manages to bite her tongue.

It’s too early for words like that. It’s too early to _feel_ that, she thinks.

It’s too much far too soon.

Kira goes through mental gymnastics, trying to convince herself that she’s not at that point yet, that it had just been a momentary lapse.

But it’s not, she thinks.

She looks up at those stars, and squeezes Allison’s hand, and she feels her chest begin to feel significantly heavier.

Oh yes, she thinks. The telltale signs.

~~

She goes down on Allison for the first time the next week, and it’s a bit of a learning curve—but she watched videos and read articles, and she’s always been a quick study, and it doesn’t take long to make Allison moan.

It’s a bit of a problem, of course, because they don’t want to be _too_ noisy, but it’s also a matter of pride.

It feels nice, she thinks.

It feels nice to feel like things are actually falling into place.

Now, if only things would actually stay that way.

~~

Another dead body shows up, and Kira’s _angry_. Not as angry as Allison though, who is practically vibrating with anger.

“It’s not your fault,” Kira tells her, and Allison nods her head like she’s listening, like she knows that.

“It’s not your fault,” Kira says again, because it doesn't feel like Allison _believes_ it, or maybe she’s just not listening. Kira's not sure.

“I should have—“

“No,” Kira says, “You can’t let yourself go down that route. We don’t know anything about this guy. We are doing all that we can do. We’ll go on more patrols, we’ll put in more time, cover more ground. We will fix this.”

She pulls Allison in for a hug, and it takes a second, but eventually Allison relaxes into it, and Kira just closes her eyes and breathes. “It’s all going to be okay.”

~~

They hear a scream, and they take off running.

Kira gets there first, and _yes_ , there it is, there’s monster they’ve been looking for.

She engages, and then Allison shows up and shoots it, and Kira hesitates, because she’s never killed anyone before, murderous supernatural creature or not, but then Allison kills it with a well-placed arrow, and Kira feels a rush of relief, and then guilt.

She turns back to the guy who had been screaming while being attacked by the thing, and tries to comfort him, but he’s a blubbering mess.

“You’re okay,” she tells him. “Everything is okay, you’re alive, and—“ she wants to say something like _tell no one what you saw_ , but that seems kind of dramatic, though maybe that’s applicable to the current situation.

Allison squats down next to them and smiles slightly. “And we’d like to keep it that way. And we think that it would be best for everyone involved if we just pretended tonight never happened.” Allison pats the guy’s shoulder, and the guy stops shaking for a moment, and actually thinks about her words. Or, at least, it seems like it.

She’s kind of hoping he is, because the last thing they need is some sort of huge scene over this.

Don’t draw attention, it’s like rule number one in the unofficial kitsune handbook.

“I think that sounds like a good idea,” he says, running a hand through his messy hair.

“Good,” Allison says, and they help him to his feet. “Where do you live?”

“Uhhh,” he points, and Kira breathes a sigh of relief.

“Okay,” Kira says. “I’m going to walk you home, and she's going to make sure that no one comes across the body.”

Kira’s pretty sure the guy has gone back to not listening to her, but Allison nods, and Kira walks him the block and a half it takes to get back to his apartment, and then she practically runs back to Allison.

Allison has already cleaned up the area, and the body is under the large tarp Allison has been carrying in her bag for just this occurrence.

“What do we do?” Kira asks. “With the body, I mean.”

Kira stares at Allison like she’s supposed to have answers, and Allison just stares down at the body.

“I know how to take care of this,” Allison says, “Just help me move it.”

“O—kay.”  She shakes her head, and bounces on the balls of her feet. This is good. 

They’ve taken a murderous dude off the streets, and they saved a life, and everything’s going to be just fine now.

~~

“I know it’s only February,” Allison says, “But do you have any plans for spring break?”

“Oh,” Kira shrugs. “I’m not going home, so I’ll probably just hang around on campus. You?”

She looks back down at her essay for her writing class, which is supposed to be about the construction of moral codes, but it’s . . . not.

“I’m going home,” Allison tells her. “And I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me.”

“Oh,” Kira looks back up and smiles. “Really?”

“Really,” Allison says, leaning forward across the table they’re sitting at in their dorm floor lounge and just _smiling_ at her.

It makes Kira feel . . . special. “I’d love to,” she replies. “Your parents aren’t going to try to hunt me, are they?”

Allison shakes her head and takes Kira’s hands in her own, gently squeezing them. “They’re going to love you.”

“I’d hope so,” Kira says, “Since the alternative would be fox stew.”

Allison laughs, and Kira leans forward over her laptop to kiss her. The table is digging into her stomach, but she doesn’t mind.

“Good,” Allison says. “I’m glad.”

~~

They spend a lot of time together. It’s hard not to when you’re dating, but you’re also college roommates, and you also do a lot of generic friend things together like _accidentally_ set off fire alarms and watch all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls on Netflix in two and a half weeks(which, okay, is also a little girlfriendly, because they occasionally get distracted by making out, and there’s a lot of cuddling involved).

There's also the problem of Kira falling in love with Allison.

Which, okay, should probably not be a problem, but she’s never been in love before, and she doesn’t know how to tell Allison. Should she make it a big deal, and do something totally romantic, and risk Allison not being ready for that yet? Or should she just casually slip it into a conversation so that Allison can ignore it if she wants to?

Kira wants to do something nice, she really does, but she’s also scared. Terrified, even.

Her heart has never been so full like this before, she’s never been so sure of who she is, and how she feels.

She needs to be brave, she decides. _Be brave._

~~

Kira and Allison have a thing about the stars—they often sneak up to their building’s roof and just sit and stare at them.

There’s also a lot of kissing too, and occasionally, Kira blushes, much more x-rated things.

She can’t exactly paint the room, or do anything permanent to it(she’s seen the fees they charge for the slightest of infractions, and she doesn’t exactly have thousands of dollars sitting around.

She decides instead to get one of those cute revolving lights—she’s tempted by the ones that are super colorful and cute, but she goes with the white lights because they seem more romantic.

She gets rose petals, which will suck to pick up later, but it’s definitely worth it. She'll suffer for her fanciful needs.

She picks some romantic songs, and then she puts on a pretty dress and waits for Allison to get home from class—she’d made sure to make a date, just to be safe. There's nothing less romantic than interrupting Allison’s studying or essay writing time.

She stands up sharply when she hears Allison opening the door, and smiles broadly.

“Wow,” Allison says. “You look amazing. I—I don’t,” she winces, looking down. “Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll get it together.”

“Oh no, don’t worry about it,” Kira says, grabbing her hands and pulling her to the center of the room. “Okay, I just need—“ she’s already covered up the blinds with dark fabric pinned to the wall—such tiny holes will _hopefully_ not be noticed. “Close your eyes.”

Allison gives her a strange look, but she smiles and acquiesces.

Kira gives herself a quick mental pep talk—you can _do_ this, she tells herself, and she switches off the lights and turns on the special one she’d gotten. She bounces back over, standing in front of Allison. “Open your eyes.”

“Oh,” Allison says. “It’s beautiful.” She looks around at the spinning lights.

Kira had a speech planned, a whole careful lead in to the words, and she’d practiced them constantly for the past two weeks, but somehow she loses all of those words, and just goes for the one undeniable truth she has left. “I love you,” she says softly.

“Oh,” Allison bites her lip, and she looks stunned, which isn’t especially promising.

“I’m sorry,” Kira says. “You don’t have to say anything—I had this whole speech planned out, and I just forgot it all, and I am so sorry, I wanted to make it special—“

Allison leans forward and places her hands on either side of Kira’s face. “You’re okay. It’s okay. It’s beautiful, and you’re beautiful, and—I love you too.”

Kira smiles. “You do?”

“Yes,” Allison says, and she kisses her, and Kira feels her heart soar in her chest and she just wants to do a happy dance and scream _yes_ to the entire world, because she’s in love, and that’s what people who are in love do.

At least, it’s what she imagines they do, and she has the odd impulse to do it, so it must come from somewhere.

Perfect, she thinks.

~~

Kira goes home with Allison for spring break, and she meets Allison’s parents officially. A slight wave from a stranger is very different from officially meeting your girlfriend's parents. They definitely do _not_ know that Kira is a kitsune(“we’ll save that for another day,” Allison suggests, and Kira agrees), but they seem to like her, maybe.

They're mostly polite, and a little scary, but perfectly accepting. 

Her own parents had a similar reaction—nonplussed, but ever the supportive parents.

After dinner, Allison's parents take her on a very thorough tour through the Argent weapon collection, which she thinks is some sort of passive aggressive warning not to break their daughter’s heart, which makes her a tad nervous(or, well, much more than a tad, but Allison swears she didn’t show it that much outwardly, and Kira appreciates the lie, she does).

She’s allowed to stay under their roof, but she’s literally as far away from Allison’s room as possible. Allison tells her not to worry when they go off to see the town and meet the rest of her friends(at least, the ones who aren’t still stuck at school), because Allison intends to sneak over to her room anyway, and she says it with such a twinkle in her eye that Kira knows she’s serious.

“We’re not having sex under your parents’ roof,” Kira says firmly, but Allison shrugs.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do,” Kira says. “I definitely do. We aren’t—“

Allison steals a kiss, and then winks at her, and Kira feels her cheeks heat up, and she sighs.

~~

Beacon Hills is nice, and besides the fact that it apparently attracts supernatural creatures and it’s actually a _really_ dangerous and deadly place to live, it’s beautiful. It has a cute little small town vibe that feels very homey.

She sees Scott again, who is definitely dating Lydia, but Kira has a weird feeling that they aren’t telling anyone, even though it’s obvious from the way they look at each other and casually touch each other when they think no one else is looking. Or, maybe they just don't like PDA, Kira thinks.

But that’s definitely not her business, she reminds herself, and she just goes back to meeting people. There's Deaton, Scott’s occasional boss and a full-time vet and emissary, whose brain Kira really wants to pick. There's grumpy Derek(Kira’s not really sure if he’s friends with Allison, but he’s around, so, maybe?), and then Malia, and the attractive Isaac, who definitely has a slight crush on Allison.

She fits into the group a little easier this time, and it feels . . . nice.

~~

They go back to school at the end of the week, and Kira hesitates before bringing up the issue of living arrangements for the next year.

Because Kira is an adult, and she’s capable of acting like one who is in a mature relationship, she just blurts it out. “Do you want to live together next year?”

“Of course I do,” Allison says, looking at her like she’s some sort of strange beast.

“Good,” Kira says with a smile. “I just wanted to make sure.”

Allison’s features soften, and she leans forward to kiss her cheek. “We’ll find something close, comfy, and not ridiculously expensive. Maybe something we can paint. And we'll put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.”

“I’d love that,” Kira says, and she mentally latches onto the _we_.

They’re _we_ people.

It's hard not to be completely ecstatic about _that_.

~~

Kira skypes Allison constantly all summer, missing her terribly—though Allison comes to visit for a few weeks, and she meets Kira’s parents, and the future feels so bright, even brighter than the present.

And the present is pretty fantastic if you ask Kira, who is pretty sure that Allison is the love of her life.

Maybe this is just the glow of new love,  _first love,_ talking. She knows this particular feeling ends eventually, but for now things are simple, and happy, and life feels like it's full of endless possibilities. 

Kira loves a good romance, and she adores a good happy ending.

This might even be hers.


End file.
